SOF Week panel on lethal AI and autonomous systems headlined by Pentagon CTO Emil Michael
NewsMay 18, 2026
TAMPA, Florida. Emil Michael, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and the Department of War's Chief Technology Officer, will headline a panel discussion on lethal artificial intelligence and autonomous systems at SOF Week 2026 on May 20, joining senior industry leaders to address what organizers are calling the evolution of America's "asymmetric edge" in special operations.
The session -- titled "The Asymmetric Edge: Lethal AI & Autonomy in Special Operations" -- is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. at the JW Marriott Tampa Bay Ballroom and will be moderated by Lauren Bedula, managing director of Beacon Global Strategies. Panelists include Tara Murphy Dougherty, CEO of defense software company Govini, and Peter Tague, Managing Partner at US Innovative Technology.
The panel will address how the U.S. is scaling autonomous prototypes from experimentation to fielding, securing the defense industrial base through strategic investment, and treating data as a weapon system in contested environments.
